MINOR CHARACTER DEATH. Set immediately after A Flock of Trouble and Time After Midnight. The murder of a close family friend sends the members of the Barkley family reeling in several different directions.

The Death of a Friend

Chapter 1

It would have been Jarrod's first day back at the office, except that his office was still being repaired following the explosion that took his vision, thankfully now returned. Nick and Heath had gotten the repairs started, but when he got his first look at it, to Jarrod it looked like what it was – a room where several sticks of dynamite had gone off and blown the heart out of it, and thrown him into a darkness that not only left him handicapped – it also left him doubting his own character and courage. It had been a horrible three weeks, and now that it was over, Jarrod knew that even though he had managed to deal with himself, he still had to deal with the wreck of his office. The walls were back up, as was the ceiling. Lighting fixtures still need to be restored, and paneling needed to be put in. But it was coming along.

Since he was still acting district attorney for the county, he had access to that office in the courthouse and settled in there while he put his work life back together. Jarrod was amazed to discover that resuming his career as a sighted lawyer was almost as tough as enduring it blind. That made no sense to him, but his assistant, Mark Bromley, pointed out to him that any change was bound to be unsettling. Once he had gotten used to operating in the dark, the light was going to unhinge him a bit.

That was right before Mark tendered his resignation. Jarrod understood why he did it. Bromley had sold out to the man who had blinded Jarrod, forcing Jarrod to step back in and take the case against Joshua Cunningham. Jarrod agreed that there was no way that Bromley could continue as assistant district attorney after that, but he hated to see what was a promising career come crashing down like the ceiling of his exploded office. He deeply regretted watching Mark leave the office for the last time.

And he regretted it not only for Mark, but because it also left him with no assistant district attorneys on his staff at all. So, here he was, heading up the prosecutor's office not a week after regaining his vision, with no staff except for one overworked secretary, and a desk full of criminal cases he was going to have to try himself.

He didn't think it could get more stressful, but then, after three days of trying to organize and cope, Sheriff Madden came in.

Jarrod's stomach sank when he saw the unhappy look on Fred Madden's face. "Oh, Fred, don't tell me you've got a murder or something dreadful like that to drop on my desk."

Sheriff Madden sat down in a chair on the other side of the desk, holding his hat in his hands. "I'm afraid it's worse than that, Jarrod. I know you and your family have been pretty close to Carl Wheeler."

Jarrod felt his heart break. "Fred, no, don't tell me this – "

"I'm sorry, Jarrod," the sheriff said. "Carl was found dead in the alley behind Harry's saloon just after sunup, stabbed. His foreman got concerned when he didn't come home from a poker game, came looking and found him."

Jarrod shut his eyes, blessedly blind again for a moment that he wished would last, because then maybe he could go back a couple weeks and this horrible news wouldn't be true. "Robbery?" he asked.

"He didn't have any money on him, but I don't know yet whether he left the game with any."

"Nick was at that poker game, but he blew all his money early and was home before midnight. Heath was there too."

"I'll need to talk to them – and I know Audra's been seeing Carl off and on over the last few months. I think you're gonna want to go home and talk to them before I do."

Jarrod opened his eyes and looked at the sheriff. "Do you have any suspects? The foreman?"

"Not likely the foreman. Carl had been dead almost all night, according to Doc Merar. I talked to Harry, got the names of the men in the poker game and the names of as many men in the saloon last night as Harry could remember - the foreman wasn't among them. I'm just beginning my investigation, and I know you don't have any staff right now, so I'm deputizing Sandy Lewis to help me with the office while I look into this properly. Were you in the saloon with Nick and Heath last night, Jarrod?"

Sandy Lewis was a local man who worked in the bank and who could help out now and then without needing pay. Jarrod said, "No. I'll do what I can to help you, Fred, but I've got four cases on the docket next week."

"I know. I'm witness in each of them. But they're not much. Maybe you can get the defendants to plead guilty."

Jarrod's head was beginning to hurt. He rubbed his forehead. "I'll try. I've got time. Right now, I think I'll head home and break the news."

"Do you think Nick is going to be any trouble?"

"Trouble?" Jarrod asked. "What do you mean?"

"I don't need him going off half-cocked and trying to find who did this himself."

Jarrod quickly shook his head. "I don't think he'll do that. If he starts losing control, I'll calm him down, or Heath and Mother will. They usually have a way with him. Under the circumstances, Audra may try to keep him under control, too. She's gonna need him to help her through this. We all pretty much hoped that she was gonna marry Carl one of these days, and I think she was hoping for that, too."

"I am really sorry, Jarrod. I know there was that rift between Carl and the Barkleys over that sheep business – "

Jarrod waved him off. "That was over and the rift was repaired months ago. The only thing the memory of that is gonna do is make losing Carl sting more for Nick and Audra." Jarrod stood up, grabbing his hat and his gun belt from the hat tree behind his desk. "I guess I'd better get on home and break the news. When do you want to come out?"

"Later today would be best," the sheriff said, standing. "If Nick and Heath can tell me anything about that poker game last night, I want to hear it now before they start forgetting the details."

"All right. We'll see you when we see you, then."

Jarrod fetched his horse from the livery and rode home, his heart aching all the way. He was not as close to Carl as Nick and Audra were, but he had known the man since childhood and liked him. Carl was Nick's age, just as tough but maybe with a different business sense, since he was running his ranch completely on his own and had only the ranch to run. They had known each other before they were kids in school, seldom had schoolyard rows, and except for the sheep incident, never had any serious disagreements. Jarrod was grateful that the sheep incident had blown over and the Barkleys were on good terms with Carl again. That was the only silver lining in this terrible storm.

And then there was Audra. She never talked about Carl much, but she went out with him pretty frequently. Again, the sheep incident had damaged that a little, but since that was resolved, Audra was seeing Carl more often. Jarrod couldn't say whether his little sister was in love with the man. With his vision difficulties and the trial against Joshua Cunningham, Jarrod's focus, until very recently, had been completely on himself.

Something he realized was a natural reaction at the time, but something he now regretted. If he'd been paying more attention, he might be of more help to his siblings today. As it was, he personally had been dealing with one blow after another over the last month. Now he was going to have to break the news to Nick and Audra, and then he was going to have to reassure them, over and over as this progressed, that he was going to find who did this and see that he paid the price – legally – for what he'd done.

He prayed that he and the sheriff would be able to find Carl's murderer and do it fast. If this was done simply by a drifter who had already passed on through, they might never find him. That was a frightening thought.

"Damn," Jarrod said, out loud, to himself.

It wasn't long before he rode into the stable yard and found Ciego there. "Home so soon, Senor Jarrod?" Ciego asked.

"Yes," Jarrod said. "Are Nick and Heath here?"

"No, sir. They are out fixing fences."

"Would you go get them, tell them I need them back here right away? It's very important."

"Sure, Mr. Jarrod. Right away."

"Don't unsaddle my horse. If I'm going to be staying, I'll take care of him myself."

"Si, Senor."

Jarrod walked heavily into the house. No one was there to greet him. He didn't have any idea where they were, but he was not inclined to bellow for his mother as Nick would have done. Even if he was ever inclined to do that, he didn't feel up to it now. He left his hat on the table by the door and went toward the kitchen.

He found his mother there fixing lunch with Silas. They were fussing over something at the big table there in the center of the room, but Victoria looked up when she heard him come in. "Jarrod! We didn't expect you home this soon."

"Something's come up," Jarrod said. "Is Audra here?"

"No, she's out riding, but I expect her back in time for lunch." Victoria suddenly saw the look on Jarrod's face, the lines that hadn't been there in the morning, the deep sadness in his eyes. "What is it, Jarrod? What's wrong?"

Jarrod took a deep breath. "Fred Madden came to see me about an hour ago. Carl Wheeler was found dead in an alley this morning. Murdered."